Control Techniques has been at the forefront of drive technology in automation applications for more than 40 years, developing a series of market-leading products that deliver high performance, reliability and energy efficiency. RS has now become the first official global distribution partner for the Control Techniques brand products, which are aimed at a range of markets including materials handling, packaging, printing, lifts and HVAC systems.

The initial launch of products includes: the well-established Commander SK drive modules, for which RS has distribution rights to serve the MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Operations) market; and the latest generation Unidrive M200 and M400 family of frequency inverters, which targets machine builders.

The Commander SK drive modules are highly compact and offer excellent motor control with onboard intelligence, I/O, Ethernet and fieldbus communications options, providing much more than would be typically expected from a standard open loop drive. The Unidrive M200 and M400 are modern and industry-leading inverter drives that are ready for Industry 4.0 deployment, as they connect with many of the common industrial fieldbuses via the units’ modular ‘SI’ interface port.

“Control Techniques has been a leading brand for decades, developing cutting-edge products including the first IoT-ready drive,” said Jaycee Reynolds, Commercial Category manager at RS. “This agreement, therefore, brings an excellent addition to our extensive portfolio of technologies for industrial and automation markets.”

“RS is very prominent in distribution for industrial markets and has the global infrastructure to deliver the necessary support for customers in fast developing connected-equipment automation applications, enabling them to optimise their maintenance procedures to reduce machine downtime,” said Naz Mohammed, Channel Development director EMEA at Nidec Corporation.